MOSCOW: The Russian rouble opened stronger on Thursday, helped by a rise in the oil price, despite scepticism that oil producers will agree a deal on output at today's OPEC meeting.
At 0745 GMT, the rouble was 0.6 percent stronger against the dollar at 66.76 and had gained 0.3 percent to 74.85 versus the euro.
The rouble had retreated on Tuesday and Wednesday, hurt by rising expectations of a U.S. interest rate hike, which has strengthened the dollar and weighed on the oil price.
However, Brent crude, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.6 percent at $50 a barrel on Thursday.
Oil has strengthened after OPEC sources said today's meeting of the group in Vienna will consider setting a new ceiling on output.
However, an agreement is seen as unlikely because of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
"We are sceptical about the ability of today's OPEC summit to support oil prices," MFX Broker analyst Alexander Grichenkov said in a note. "The risks for oil and the rouble are shifted to the downside."
Russian share indexes were mixed on Thursday, stabilising after falls earlier in the week.
The dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.2 percent to 892 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was down 0.2 percent at 1,890 points.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.